On February 19th and 20thAbycine will show some shorts in English at the EOI (Salón de Actos). The price is 2 euros and I will be selling tickets. These are the times: 19th February (Tuesday) 19.45h 20th February (Wednesday) 17.00h and 19.45h We will attend the showings on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of our lessons. Click hereto see the shorts.
When you first start learning a new language, it might seem frustrating. There are tons of new vocabulary words and new grammar rules to learn, and listening to native speakers may make your head spin.
But don’t give up! You successfully learned one language well so far (or you wouldn’t be understanding this post!), so you can clearly learn another. And the fact that you’re even reading this article shows me another important factor — that you’re motivated to learn!
Outside of that, though, some people seem to learn languages faster than others. More often than not, it’s because they possess certain traits and characteristics that help them along the way. I’ve been tutoring for a while now, so I started thinking about what these traits are.
Here are the characteristics I see in my most successful language students:
1) Observant
The most effective language learners spend time and energy outside of classes and lessons trying to understand the language’s clues, patterns, structure, and organization. Along with this, you should keep notes to monitor what you’ve learned, and come prepared with questions for your tutor, teacher, or professor.
Learning Tip: As you learn, immediately apply new words and grammatical concepts/rules by writing or speaking. You’ll likely already be doing this with your tutor, but continue practicing in between your lessons, too. Pay attention to contextual clues as you speak with others, and write down any patterns you notice.
2) Pragmatic My best students know what works and what doesn’t for their personal learning style. This includes an active approach in tailoring your personal preferences and needs in all learning situations, so you don’t waste time on what is ineffective for you.
This characteristic also involves thoughtfulness, including picking up on the objective of a given in-class exercise and why it’s important to your overall language learning.
Learning Tip: Figure out your learning style, and make sure your tutor knows it too.
3) Dedicated Super-learners believe they can always learn something, even if they dislike or struggle with a given concept, topic, or rule. They steadfastly seek learning environments that facilitate their unique needs and goals.
They also know there are no shortcuts when it comes to learning! Efficient language learning requires a combination of a great teacher or tutor, the right learning resources, and a commitment to practicing on your own time.
Learning Tip: Supplement your lessons with other ways of interacting and learning. This could include taking an online group class, playing a language-learning game, or listening to a podcast during your commute to and from work or school.
4) Fearless
My best students frequently seek out opportunities to chat with native or experienced speakers, with the aim of communicating and understanding before accurateness. Down the road, while temporarily prioritizing communication, super-learners know they will learn to balance communicating with accuracy as they improve.
Learning Tip: Don’t be afraid to leave your comfort zone! Seek out opportunities to chat with others, whether they’re native speakers or another student learning the same language. 5) Patient and centered
Research has shown the best way to learn is with a relaxed, yet alert inner-posture. In my five years of experience as a tutor and 12 years as a Spanish language learner, I have seen that one’s attitude, including patience with the process, can be more important than your initial skill level and intelligence!
Learning Tip: If you’re feeling frustrated with your progress, take a step back. Learning a new language takes time, and some concepts and rules may seem easier than others. Let your tutor know if you’re struggling with something, and spend extra time on that. 6) Realistic
Most languages are highly complex. Efficient language learners are realistic, systematic, and goal-oriented in their approach. The involves an active long-term commitment, effective organization, and knowing that it’s unrealistic to aim for perfection.
Learning Tip: Think about your short- and long-term goals, and write them down. Make sure they’re realistic and reachable! If you have a busy schedule, you may not have a ton of time to set aside — and that’s OK. Just make sure you’re noticing consistent progress, no matter how small. 7) Personable
As trait #4 mentioned, consistent contact with experienced and/or native speakers is key. Super-learners have the social support needed to continually practice the language, in all types of settings.
Learning Tip: Get as much practice as you can speaking in your target language! Chat with other students online, find a language exchange partner, or teach a family member what you’ve learned so far. 8) Wordly
Lastly and most importantly, efficient language learning requires embracing the culture of the new language! They know that a language is much more than vocab and grammar; it’s an entirely new way of conceptualizing and seeing the world.
Learning Tip: If you have the resources, consider traveling to a country where the language is spoken. Immersion is proven to help you learn faster, as you’ll get real-life practice.
Check old posts about the same topic in "contents".
Watch the video and fill in the gaps (between 1 and 3 words). Check your answers in "comments".
Your brain weighs about ____________________________ (1) and accounts
for about 20% of your body's ____________________________ (2) and energy usage.
The brain houses 100 billion neurons, with each neuron having between a thousand
and ____________________________ (3) synapses or connections to other neurons.
Every thought, every action and every memory is ____________________________
(4) in these neural pathways. Every brain is unique and uniquely organized.
Historically schools have educated students as if they had ____________________________
(5). The establishment of Education systematically disassembles our students ____________________________
(6). Students engage with new learning less and less and are not retaining
learning and long-term memory.
Educators need to design learning to facilitate this ultimate goal of
long-term memory penetration. We begin by hijacking their brains with a ____________________________
(7) experience or a ____________________________ (8) one. Unfortunately the
more powerful of the two is pain and if the student is experiencing pain, that
will hold their attention rather than the learning.
When introducing new information, teachers must provide students with
multiple entry points. Then students often need multiple solution paths ____________________________
(9) with the new learning.
When new information is introduced the brain has to find a way to
reconcile it with ____________________________ (10). This process is called cognitive
conflict and it can be ____________________________ (11), but to truly ensure
that the information ____________________________ (12) students must be allowed
to struggle and resolve their cognitive conflict.
There are three key ingredients to intrinsic motivation:
- Autonomy: giving students opportunities to make ____________________________
(13) gives them a sense of empowerment.
- Connection, which satisfies a ____________________________ (14)
- The pursuit of ____________________________ (15) in the progression
towards Mastery. This requires ____________________________ (16) between two
variables. When the brain finds ____________________________ (17) that is perfectly
balanced with ability the result is called flow and it is the most intense ____________________________
(18) that the brain can experience.
When the three ingredients are mixed together in the brain, the result
is a ____________________________ (19),
The brain still has two other key needs:
-Activity:
passive learning has little chance of being encoded in ____________________________
(20). By activating the students biology through ____________________________ (21)
and multi-sensory experience the brain begins to experience active learning, which
is much more memorable.
- Self reflection
When these brain compatible ____________________________ (22) are applied
every day in every class, the result becomes exponential.
LEARNING STYLES
Watch the video. Do the quiz and find out what kind of learning style suits you best. Answer the question and complete these sentences that appear at the end of the video (check your answers in "comments").
1. What's her top tip for making sure you never forget things?
2. The more ____________________________ we use, the less likely we are to ____________________________ ,
3. The more of ____________________________ we use to learn information, ____________________________ we remember it.
4. The more clues we have, the ____________________________ we have of finding the treasure.
5. Although we may have a learning ____________________________ , we might find this varies from ____________________________ . We might learn best for ____________________________ through making models or listening to ____________________________ to Spanish and drawing ____________________________ for history.
Watch the video and learn to use the expressions in the photocopy I gave you in class.
Hard work vs Talent Listen to two people talking about that topic. You can do the quiz and vocabulary activities and then see the script. Talent Wish Listento two college students talk about talents they wish they had. Do the quiz and vocabulary activities and check the script.
These are the words you need to fill in the exercise in the photocopy.
Click here to listen to a man talking about learning languages. This is one of the activities we did in class (I wanna talk about learning languages).
When you first start learning a new language, it might seem frustrating. There are tons of new vocabulary words and new grammar rules to learn, and listening to native speakers may make your head spin.
